Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 19
とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン）S
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Febri-chan befriends Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko, but for whatever reason, she hides behind Saten whenever Mikoto tries to befriend her. Mikoto uses her pink Gekota finger puppet to entice Febri, who simply takes it and won’t return it. Uiharu calls Mii, who says that Anti-Skill can’t be contacted about Febri, so Saten is drafted to take care of Febri since Febri has bonded with her the most. Uiharu volunteers to help, so it is decided to use Uiharu’s place since she has bunk beds. Saten carries the sleeping Febri on her back to Uiharu’s place, where she wakes up. She enjoys her lollipop and plays with the Gekota while dinner is made. Febri is uncertain at first, but when Saten gives her a bite, she loves it and eats with gusto.

Over at Kuroko’s and Mikoto’s dorm room, Kuroko gets punished for trying to act like a child since Mikoto is depressed by Febri rejecting her. Meanwhile, Saten bathes with Febri as Saten notes that the only thing in Febri’s purse are lollipops and there’s no identifying tags in her dress. After putting her to bed, Saten and Uiharu chat a bit. Saten tries Febri’s lollipop and finds it to be strong. The following day, she gets Kuroko and Mikoto to try it, where they have a strong, negative reaction to it. Mii finds it to be very intense, causing Mikoto to wonder how Febri keeps sucking on one all day long. Uiharu is irritated at Saten for tricking her into trying the lollipop as she fails to find info on Febri, but she does put her name into missing children databases. This leads to speculation that she could be a Child Error.

Mikoto learns from the dorm mother that the Cypress center will take Febri in, but they’ll need a few days. Saten volunteers to keep taking care of Febri with Uiharu. Mikoto is determined to get on Febri’s good side after Febri bonds with everyone but her. She and Saten join Mii, Kuroko, and Uiharu for some Judgement work at one of the Academic Assembly locations. There, they encounter Mitsuko, Wannai, and Awatsuki, all of whom Febri befriends. Saten realizes that Mikoto really wants to bond with Febri, so she arranges for Febri to be left in Mikoto’s care for a bit. Febri is not pleased by this, and despite Mikoto’s best efforts, Febri refuses to befriend her.

While Mikoto is distracted, Febri sees and follows a guy in a Gekota costume. When the guy takes off the head, Febri is distressed and lost, unable to find Saten and the others. Mikoto reports her mistake to the others and an intense search begins as Mikoto finds the pink Gekota puppet. Meanwhile, Aritomi sees his target, Febri, just as Mitsuko sees her. Mikoto arrives on an upper level as Aritomi sends security bots in to capture Febri. Mikoto destroys them, shocking Aritomi by her arrival. Saten has Febri apologize to Mikoto, which she does, but she steals the pink Gekota back, leading Mikoto to playfully chase her. Meanwhile, Aritomi reports in to STUDY, where it is decided that they’ll add Mikoto to their experiment list as well as Shizuri.

Thoughts/Review:

Sometimes, writers find themselves in the unenviable position of needing to do a certain thing with a character, but have no realistic way to pull it off. That’s why it is such a laugh to hear that Anti-Skill couldn’t be contacting about Febri until the morning. What, does this police force work bankers’ hours? And what about the other times we’ve seen them out in the evening?  Anti-Skill should be a 24-7 operation, but I guess this was the only thing the writers could come up with to justify having Febri stay with Uiharu and Saten.

Beyond that, the rest of the episode was enjoyable. Mikoto has always been shown to be one who hates losing, but also someone who’s able to bond with children quite well. As such, it made Febri’s refusal to befriend Mikoto more amusing to me as well as Mikoto’s subsequent attempts to bridge the gap.

Febri is certainly a major mystery. Why does she know Mikoto and why does Mikoto frighten her so?

The fact that such a big deal is being made over her lollipops being quite strong in (whatever unknown) flavor may suggest they are more than just a simple lollipop. For some reason, I keep thinking that if she is an esper of some kind, then the lollipop might be a limiter of some kind, but that’s just ramped speculation on my part.

The question of her possibly being a Child Error came up and my initial reaction was, “I bet she isn’t.” I based that on the fact that she only carried lollipops with her in her purse, and her name tag was removed from her dress. Plus, last episode, she was seen on a balcony at what I presumed was an apartment. But, she could still be a Child Error, and if she is, then Cypress is a good place for her to end up at.

Still, there must be something about her since STUDY wants her as well as their desire to do experiments on Mikoto and Shizuri. Heh. I can see Mikoto and Shizuri reluctantly teaming up to lay the smack down on these STUDY fools (that is, presuming it doesn’t contradict things that happen with Shizuri later on in the novels and/or manga).

All that aside, it was cute seeing Saten being an “oneesan” to Febri, with Uiharu assisting.

As an aside item, I know I should go back and look at the first Railgun anime series again, but I didn’t like Mikoto’s very mild, negative reaction to something Mitsuko said. In the manga, Mikoto and Mitsuko are just as much friends as Mikoto is with Kuroko, Saten, or Uiharu. I want to see that in the anime as well.

In the end, a lot of questions are raised but no answers are given. The episode served as fun filler while setting up Febri as a very charming, likable girl for whom harm being done to her will cause negative reactions to the viewers.